CRAP you might spend that now here!!!

you wait up to six months for a referral...

If we keep going like we are now you will see that. Many doctors already limiting patients and retiring early..

I read the other day that Pittsburgh has as many MRI machines as all of Canada

In the original post two years ago he said it was $1600 for a mri. I had cat scan done recently and the bill was over $2000..Ill bet a mri is over $3000 now..

Funny thing, Canadians are coming here for healthcare. They have the same problems the Europeans are having with large scale socialized medicine.

Our enemies are more the pharmacuetical companies than they are hospitals or even insurances.

You can also blame the cost of healthcare on our own, government appointed FDA.

I personally have never discussed Universal health care( one payer). Obama's plan is not universal health care. If the health care market doesn't stabilize its self it is doomed for failure. I brought this thread back to draw attention to ^^^^^ costs in just the last two years.The cost of a mri doubling. I believe many peoples fears of universal health care are already starting to happen and will only get worse!

The healthcare market wont stabalize. There are too many regulations for any market to stabalize. Get rid of all these oversights, and our recesion will end and healthcare will come down on its own...

The problem is lack of a free market. The solution is not to have our government write the checks to the big companies, but to let to find out WHY prices are soo high.

The answer is the FDA and HMO. Several congressmen stepped forward and tried to reveal the corruption behind medicine. They have pointed out that there are many procedures forbidden by the FDA that are perfectly safe. In fact they are noninvasive and require no medication. So you'd fork over $45 for the visit and treatment without insurance. Instead they try to put you on medication that has side affects that need to be corrected by another medication, and so on.

This is the problem that needs addressing. This is the problem that is getting IGNORED by the majority.

The rich of Canada come here so they can get (special) care like a room or floor to themselves and not be treated the same as a lower class person.

an entire FLOOR??

i don't think there's any canadian THAT rich - don't only superstars reserve the entire floor?

Yes, and anyone that has anything potentially life threatening.

The downside to nationalized and/or socialized medicine are rediculous waiting period of months of any sort of appointment. Getting a second opinion is just impractical as well.

If we want decent healthcare nationalizing it, or even having the government pay for it is not the answer at all. We are merely adding to the underlying problems by looking for the "quick fix".

Health Care
In these United States of America, one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, many people cannot afford even basic health insurance. They suffer severely under the present system and have to live under the constant fear of not knowing what they will do if they or their loved ones ever fall seriously ill.

But in many cases, insured individuals aren’t much better off either. In comparison to the exorbitant insurance premiums they pay, the medical care they receive is often very poor.

Additionally, due to the government-enforced monopolies of HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) and pharmaceutical companies, many patients will never even hear about some of the most effective and non-invasive treatment methods. These natural and inexpensive ways of regaining one’s health are being suppressed by the FDA and the medical establishment not because of safety concerns (they’ve been around for hundreds of years), but because they cannot be patented and would therefore cut into the pharmaceutical industry’s profits.

The current system is most definitely broken, and it must eventually be abolished if we want regain both our health and our freedom.

Forced nationalization is the worst possible answer. To get elected, many politicians promise “free” medical care for everyone. But socialistic health care nationalization in European countries resulted in longer waiting periods, severe lack of choice, deterioration of health care quality, prohibition of alternative health treatments, higher taxes, and sadly (for some) permanent illness or death because they could not get the care they needed.

Also, a nationalized system is not “free” at all because someone has to pay for it. And why should anyone be forced to pay for someone else’s medical care? Very few decent people would personally assault their neighbors at gunpoint and steal thousands of dollars to pay for their own medical needs. How could any freedom loving person agree to delegate such criminal acts to the government by supporting a nationalized health care system?

There is only one solution that will lead to true health and true freedom: Making health care more affordable. Ron Paul believes that only true free market competition will put pressure on the providers and force them to lower their costs to remain in business. Additionally, Ron Paul wants to change the tax code to allow individual Americans to fully deduct all health care costs from their taxes.

Through these measures and the elimination of government-sponsored health care monopolies a much larger number of people will be able to finally access affordable health care, either by paying for medical insurance or by covering their medical expenses, which are now much lower, out of their own pocket.

As for the poor and the severely ill who can neither obtain insurance nor pay for the medical care they need, Ron Paul offers the following solution in his book “The Revolution: A Manifesto“:

In the days before Medicare and Medicaid, the poor and elderly were admitted to hospitals at the same rate they are now, and received good care. Before those programs came into existence, every physician understood that he or she had a responsibility towards the less fortunate and free medical care was the norm. Hardly anyone is aware of this today, since it doesn’t fit into the typical, by the script story of government rescuing us from a predatory private sector.

Illegal aliens already receive de-facto free health care. Why can’t poor Americans have the same… not as a right, but as a charitable benefit provided by doctors who feel a personal responsibility for their fellow citizens?

Unfortunately, the current medical monopoly corrupts many doctors by rewarding practices that are not in the patients’ best interest. Pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in not curing people, but getting them permanently addicted to expensive drugs that have many side effects, thereby requiring additional drugs to suppress those side effects. Many doctors are afraid to speak up and question the system for fear of being ostracized by their peers or even losing their license.

Under a liberated health care system prices would come down and additional options would become available, thereby making health care much more affordable. Ethical corruption would give way to true compassion, and many doctors would remember their moral obligation to provide free medical care to those in need, just like they did in the past.

-www.ronpaul.com


Dr. Paul is one of the few honorable men in congress today. These are one of the people we REALLY need to start listening to if want our country to last even one more generation...

You know, I've become such a skeptic of the medical profession it's ridiculous. The Nurses are the only ones there that actually care if you are doing okay.

Doctors, they are just in it for the money and kickbacks from pharmacutical companies. That's why every doc prescribes you a drug. They don't actually help with anything, like the doctors of yesteryear.

Of course, we did this to ourselves. High insurance costs, what about the malpractice insurance doctors have to keep. I'm sure paying those premiums have something to do with it. But we live in a society of blame now. Everything has to have a "cause." But to sue a care-giver, this is a part of the high costs.

We also use doctors for a lot of menutia. We go for just the slightest of ailments, putting a huge demand on their time. Well as we all know from simple economics, when there is a higher demand for goods or services, there will be a price increase to go along with it, because it's in such demand. If folks would just eat better, exercise more, maybe we could get a couple of docs to have a "fire sale"

Then there is the insurance scams. I'm so glad the OP got some help from his. I won't carry health insurance any more (and am totally against nationalizing health insurance). The last time I needed it? $16k in doctors bills, which the insurance paid $35 of. Will someone explain to me, why I should pay someone to give me no assistance when I need it? I'd rather keep my premiums, invest it, and hope I can cover a bill should I need it. Of course I will never set foot in a doctors office unless I have to get a bone reset or a cut sewn closed. The rest, well I don't want to live into my 90s anyway.

Paying cash, $2500 dollar MRI, cost me $450.00.
But again that was cash, kept the ins. companies out of it.

Very true Sage. Our hospitals will reduce the cost for those with no insurance and even set up a payment plan.

i have never - nor has anyone i've known - waited more than a couple of weeks to get an appointment with any specialist.

I just had vascular surgery Thursday and between the room and the surgeon and the anasthesiologist it was around $30,000

I'm on Medicare though with Blue Cross supplemental ($700 monthly premiums paid for me by the Kidney Foundation) so my cost was $0

shh dont let that dirty secret out the big pharmas have spent millions to perpetuate that myth.

it's just a stereotype perpetuated by the anti-socialized medicine crowd

Now why would they do that? Are they really that selfless?

I would think they would want the government to subsidize their products. Think about it Madison... You know those few men we respect in congress. The ones that warned us of every single crisis and do nothing but expose corruption say that nationalized medicine is a bad idea. Read the above from www.ronpaul.com

You and i both know Ron Paul is in no way bought by any company (his nickname is Dr. No). And his experience as a medical doctor gives him a good perspective of what we are dealing with.

And BTW, that is good to know, Paper. Unfortunately it does not make nationalized medicine a good idea. It causes as many problems as it fixes.